The Nineteenth Annual Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium at the University of Michigan: Homepage

This Year’s Symposium Highlights

Here are some selected events from our schedule. For a complete list of events please see our calendars for January and February.

This year’s opening lecture:
Terrence Roberts of The Little Rock Nine, Lessons from Little Rock

Dr. Roberts was one of the Little Rock Nine (the nine children who were the first to integrate the Little Rock Public Schools in 1957). In his presentation, Dr. Roberts guides participants through the exploration of the lessons to be learned from the chaotic episode at Central High School. He believes that there are still great strides to be made in terms of interactions across lines of demarcation. He endeavors to alleviate the confusion in all the various arenas of difference and diversity that characterize our nation. Little Rock offered dramatic examples of negative approaches to difference and the problem those approaches create. The major part of Dr. Roberts presentations is devoted to identifying the lessons and urging the audience to commit to using this information.

Thursday, January 17, 3:00 PM at the Pendleton Room in the Michigan Union. See Events for January 17 for more information.

Annual MLK Youth Program

The K-12 community throughout Washtenaw County is invited to explore the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, in a day of planned entertainment, dialogue, and creativity. Parents may drop off their children and pick them up at the end of the program schedule.

Monday, January 21, 8:30 AM — 3:00 PM at the Modern Languages Building, 812 East Washington. See Events for January 21 for more information.

This year’s closing lecture:
Theresa Perry: co-author “To Be Young Gifted and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African American Students”

Theresa Perry is a Professor in the Departments of Africana Studies and Education at Simmons College and Director of the Simmons College/Beacon Press Race, Education and Democracy Lecture and Book Series. Her current writings and work have focused on the development of a theory of practice for African American achievement and a meta-analysis of educational environments that normalize high achievement for Black students. Dr. Perry is co-author, with the late Asa Hilliard III and Claude Steele of Young Gifted and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African American Students, co-editor with Lisa Delpit of The Real Ebonics Debate: Power Language and the Education of African American Students, editor of Teaching Malcolm X, and coeditor of Freedom’s Plow: Teaching in the Multicultural Classroom. She is completing a book entitled, Educating African American Students: What Teachers, Teacher Educators and Community Activists Should Know.

Friday, January 25, 1:00 PM at the Pendleton Room in the Michigan Union. See Events for January 25 for more information.

This year’s keynote speaker:
Lou Gossett, Jr.

Lou Gossett Jr. remains one of the most sought after and busiest veteran actors in the film and television industry today. His unique talent for portraying powerful and charismatic characters has charmed audiences worldwide, resulting in an impressive amount of coveted awards, including an Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe. Gossett first gained recognition in the New York theatre scene, where at the age of 16, he won a Donaldson award for “Best Newcomer,” beating out a young James Dean. Read more...

Monday, January 21, 10:00 AM at Hill Auditorium. See Events for January 21 for more information.

An Afternoon with Martin and Langston
Featuring Dramatic Presentations by Ben Vereen and Felix Justice

This program will draw the audience inside the worlds of two of the greatest orators of the 20th century. Felix Justice transforms into Martin Luther King Jr. through recitation of Dr. King’s most memorable speeches, recreating the power of the man and his message. Justice then introduces “an old friend of mine,” and Ben Vereen portrays one of the greatest American writers in modern history, Langston Hughes. After the performance, Vereen and Justice will answer questions from the audience. Refreshments served following the question-and-answer session.

Monday, January 21, 1:00 PM at the Power Center for the Performing Arts. See Events for January 21 for more information.

This year’s memorial performance:
MOS DEF Big Band: A Tribute to Detroit’s J Dilla

Mos Def is a hip-hop, rap, and spoken word artist and actor who represents the community through poetry and hip-hop. His infectious rhymes – infused with an acute social consciousness – reclaimed hip-hop’s revolutionary soul, critiquing the violence and deceit found in “gangsta” rap and examining head-on the issues of the Black experience in the US. He has been presented by both the Lincoln Center American Songbook Series and the Brooklyn Academy of Music as an indication of the cultural significance of his work. For this concert, which will be presented only in Ann Arbor, he assembles his Big Band to pay tribute to Detroit’s most influential and respected hiphop producer, J Dilla, who died two years ago at age 32 from complications from lupus.

Monday, January 21, 7:30 PM at Hill Auditorium. See Events for January 21 for more information.